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UAE, Saudi set up joint committee separate to GCC

December 5, 2017 at 9:16 am

King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz (R) is bidden farewell by Vice President of the UAE Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (L) at Dubai International Airport in Dubai on 5 December 2016 [Bandar Algaloud/Anadolu Agency]

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have formed a new military and trade partnership separate to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the government run WAM news agency reported last night.

The new Joint Cooperation Committee will be chaired by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“The Committee is assigned to cooperate and coordinate between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in all military, political, economic, trade and cultural fields, as well as others, in the interest of the two countries,” the statement added.

In recent months, leaked emails from UAE Ambassador to the UAE Yousef Al Otaiba have revealed the close ties between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. In June, the oil rich countries launched an air, sea and land embargo on their neighbour Qatar claiming the small Gulf state supported terrorism. Charges Doha vehemently denied.

Read: UK: Human rights organisations reject UAE policies in the region

Al Otaiba’s emails revealed that the UAE and Saudi were planning a financial war against Qatar and Saudi had planned a military strike on Doha.

Though they have been joined in an Arab military alliance in Yemen in an effort to quash the advances of the Iran-backed Houthis, the two countries have not seen eye to eye with regards the end goal. Though the alliance’s official aim is to reinstate the internationally backed President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the UAE has set up the Southern Transitional Council in an effort to split Yemen in to two; North and South.